Stores donated 9,000 bags to shoppers participating in Bring Your Own Bag Week, held in Minot from April 22-28, according to event sponsors.

The event was hosted by CashWise Foods at Southgate Crossing and Marketplace Foods locations at both 20th Avenue Southwest and 21st Avenue Northwest. Volunteers were provided by the Environmentally Minded People of Minot and Friends of the Souris River organizations.

Each store donated 3,000 free reusable shopping bags to customers, totaling 9,000 reusable shopping bags between all sites. All bags were distributed by the end of the week. Community members donated 125 volunteer hours and helped educate shoppers how to use the reusable products.

“We are very happy with how this event went,” said BYOBag Week co-coordinator Donna Bye. “Our volunteers heard from lots of residents who were excited to use and reuse these bags. And we can’t say enough about how great our local grocery stores are for supporting this effort. We are fortunate to have them here!”

All three locations offer a 5-cent discount on grocery bills every time reusable bags are used at the regular check out, which is twice the cost of the typical single use shopping bag. Reusable shopping bags typically hold 2-3 times more that their single use counterparts. In their first use alone, the 9,000 distributed reusable bags eliminated 18,000 single use shopping bags and saved customers a combined $450. If used six times, the effect becomes 108,000 avoided single use plastic bags and a community savings of $2,700.